Grip for aerial tramways.



F40. CARS TARP'HEN.

GRIP FOR AERIAL TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY31,1916.

Patented Mar.

3 SHEETS-SHEE I INVENTOR:

WITNESS Es By A 270m 63/;

' F. C. CARSTARPHEN.

v GRIP FOR AERIAL TRAMWAYS.

APPLICATION FILE'D MAY 31. I9I6.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I 4 INVENTQRL:

WITNESSES p '1 {15 'wrhey,

F; c. CARSIARP-HEN- pm? FOR AERIA L TEAM WAYS. AFPucATIoN nuzp mva'g. 191s. 1,218,372. Patented Manfi, 1917;

Y asuaETs-snsfl 3 ign v INVENTOR:

- Attorney;

WITNESSES] sra rns a FREDERICK e. cAasrAarnnn, or'rannron, new JERSEY, assrenoii, 'ro' THE AMERI- ENT FFTQEE.

CA1\T STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY OF NEW JERSEY, 0F HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.,

A oonroaa'rron or n'nwannsnrr.

I GRIP FOR AERIAL TRAMWAYST" To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, 'FREDERICK C. CAR

In aerial tramways there is cad-supporting device ca ried by a hich runs on a cable or rail and the moved by means of a traction cable travels along adjacent to the track and is'adaptedto'be gripped to the trolley to carr'y'the latter or {released to dump or load the latter The grip must be strong enough to-fasten 'the trolley rigidly to the tractioncable and must be easily attached and'releas'ed; at the same time it has to be simple inorder to operate successfully and to be durable and reasonably cheap. On

lines of considerable length it is customary to use several successive sections of traction cable. These cables are not always of ex actly the sam size, or if they are so in the beginning they do not long maintain this relation. A grip which always closes to the same extent may be adjusted to hold satisfactorily on thelarger diameter cable; but when it passes onto a section where a smaller cable is installed, the grip will slip and per.- mit the trolley and its load to run away. Or if the grip be adjusted to hold satisfactorily on the smaller cable it will not close properly on the larger one. The grip of the present invention obviates this difiiculty by compen ating automatically for the ordibe more readily gripped if its jaws are turned downward. I have provldeda grip which is universal in this respect, that it can be inverted and by a slight readjustment of the partsmade to Work as a grip.

Various other features of improvement are referred to in detail hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate l'fiembodiments of the invention.

Figure 1 is a rear face elevation showing Specification of Letters Iatent.

bottom-opening Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

the grip and the adjacent part of the trolley I in which itis mounted;

F igl 2 is a face elevation of the same; Fig, 3 is a side elevation of the grip separated frolnthe trolley; v A

"Fig. 4: is a section approximately on the l1ne el4e of Fig. 1, illustrating the jaw-opcrating mechanism 5 Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the readjustment of the parts to convert the grip to a bottom opening style.

Referring to the embodiment of the inyention illustrated the gripping mechanism 1s mounted in a circular casing A surrounded by an annular groove which embraces the divided bearing ring B, C which constitutes or which is a part of the'trolley. The

grip is thus adapted to turn about its axis" to adapt itself to the inclination of the trace tion cable. As shown in Fig. 2 -the tractioncable D when it is gripped or seated-in the jaw opening, bears on the guide rollers E so that the grip casing will beturned about its axis (if necessary) to bring the'jawopen ing properly in line with the cable.

There is-a fixed jaw F which is fastened in a suitable recess inthe cast frame of the grip. This fixed or back jaw may be made thicker or thinner or may be moved outward or inward by means of liners of different thicknesses behind'it so as to make a coarse adjustment for different sizes of cable. The outer jaw G is movable, being mounted on a pivot pin H andhaving a rearwardly extending operating arm J which is connected by a pin K with the upper ends of'a pair of curved links L which attheirlower :ends are pivotally connected through a pin M with the base nortion N of an operating lever O. The operating lever pivots about a pin P with a toggle action. In the downward position of the'lever 0 shown in full lines the toggle is swung. slightly past its center to pull down the pin M and the links L and to lock them, thus'closing the movable jaw and looking it on the cable.

around the pin P cannot pull the pin M down any farther, since it is connected with the links'L which in turn are connected to the movable jaw.' In order to permit the 'completionof the toggle action therefore un der these circumstances. the pin P is ar 5 ranged to yield upward, being mountedin the fork of a double bell crank lever having a pair of-a'rms Q carrying said pin P and having an upwardly extending pair of arms Rwhich engage a block S and bear against astrong coiled spring T; the bell crank le- .ver being mounted in a pivot pin U which is fixed in the casing of the grip. The resistance of the spring T to compression measures the gripping pressure which is applied to the cable and also the closingpres sure required on the end ofthe operating .lever .Q. 'The grip is designed so that a spring T may be used of moderate strength and reasonableproportions and the ratios of leverage of the other operating parts are such that the gripping pressure is adequate for the' purpose.

The extent of compressionof the spring T is adjustable by means of a bolt V screw ing' into a squared nut V which lies within a squared'recess VV in the front wall of the casing, the ,bolt head being supported by a bridge piece X mounted on the back of the casing. Thefdownwardmotion of the bell crank lever Q, R. is'lim'ited by'the shoulder 'Y formed in the rear 'wall of the casing. The head of the bolt V forms a stopor bu.ffer for the blow of the lever 0 when the latteris thrownupward in the act of detaching the grip, the lever being provided with a boss Z which strikes squarely against the head of the bOltjzZLS indicated indotted lines in'Fig. This bolt V can be replaced at a very slight .Cost if broken, without disturbing the assembl of the other parts.

lVhen the operating lever O is in the open position it should be held there. This is accomplished by meansof a flat spring a which presses-against the underside of the arm J of the movable jaw. The spring a bears against .the fulcrum formed by the knob Z) on thebell crank or compensating lever Q, R, and the pressure on the end of the spring is subject to adjustment by means ofthe screw o-screwing through the front wall of the casing and provided with a lock nut (Z;

In the above description I have assumed that the pin? is fixed in the double arm Q, of the bell crank or compensating lever. Preferably, however, this 'pivot'pin is adjustably mounted in the manner indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. Each half of the double arm Q is finished as a bearing 6 with a slot in which the pin P is adjustable vertically; each bearing being provided with upper and lower adjusting screws f and set nuts g, the.

adjusting screws bearing at opposite sides on the pin P so as to raise or lower the lat-,

M ter and hold it firmlv in the position of adj ustmentl Vhen the pin is raised the end of the-closing lever is also raised, thus increasing the opening between the jaws; and when the pin P is lowered thereis a corresponding reduction of. the opening between the jaws. This gives a fine adjustment in addition to the coarse adjustment of the back jaw F above referred to.

It will be noted that the centerof the traction cable when gripped coincides with the axis of the rotatable casing ofthe grip.

Accordingly ifthe grip be rotated 180 all the parts will have the same relationship with the traction cable except t rat they-will be inverted. The jaw will open downward and will'thus .be in the beg-t position to grip a traction cable which slopes upward from the station. The attaching'anddetaching of the grip is usually accomplished automatically by means of fixed inclined planes striking the end of the operating lever O, the planes being inclined upward to unlock and downward to lock the grip, The herein described gripcould be used for bottom opening I grip by suitably. modifying the planes which actuate the operating lever. Furthermore the present grip may be by a slight readjustment of the: parts made to work inthe inverted position with the same inclined detaching and attaching planes which are used in the top opening position of the grip. .For this purpose the operating lever is arranged to'be-inverted so that though the entire grip may be rotated about 180 'on its axis the operating lever will still 190 projectdownward in the closing position and upwardin the open position of the jaws.

For this purpose it is only necessary to, invertthe'lever- O as shown in Fig. 5. Here the 'yieldingpivotof the lever is the-pin 105 M (instead of the pin P as before), the pin M being mounted in the bearings e on the double arm Q of the compensating bell crank Q, B. At the'same time the links L must be moved to'the inner side of the pivot 110 pins K and P so that they lie between these pins and the rear of the casing. "With the parts in this position the action of the grip is the same as before, the throwing down of the'operating lever O swings the toggle links L upward to close the movable jaw G and when this can move no farther against the cable D thenthe bell crank. lever will. yield and permit a downward movement'of the pivot pin M so as. -to allow the toggle to swing pastits, dead center and'lo'ck. On throwing up the operating lever O the toggle links L willibe'lowered and the jaw openech Though ticularity of detail a certain specific embodiment of my invention yet it -is not to be understoodtherefrom that the invention is restricted to the specific embodiment di'sclosed. Various modifications thereof in detail and in the arrangement of the parts may be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the invention,

Vl/hat I claim is- .1. A grip for cableways adapted to be-inverted so as to act either as a top openingv or a bottom open ng grip, sa1d grip including an operating lever which is adapted to be inverted with relation to the remaining parts,

so that it may lie in the same direction for either the top opening or the bottom opening position of the grip.

2. A grip for cableways comprising a casing carrying gripping aws and operating mechanism therefor, said casing being rotatable about a transverse axis, said mechanism including anope ating lever which is adapted to be inverted with relation to the remaining parts sol that' it' may lie in the mechanism therefor, said casing being ro tatable about a transverse axis, said mechanism including an' arm connectedto a 1novable one of said jaws, a link pivoted to the end of said arm, an operating lever pivoted to the opposite end of said link and pivotally mounted at another point so as to form with said link a toggle for operating said movable jaw, said operating lever and link being adapted to be inverted with relation to the remaining parts so that the link may lie in the same direction to grip the cable in either the upright or the inverted position of the casing.

l. A grip for cableways including combination a movable jaw and an operating lever for said aw, sa1d operating lever being plvotally mounted on a floating pivot and being adapted to positively move said gripping jaw into and out of cable gripping position;

5.. A grip for cableways including in combination aniovable jaw, *and an operating lever therefor mounted on a floating pivot, and a-spring pressing said pivot in a direction to close the jaw.

6., A grip for cableways including in com bination a movable jaw, atoggle mechanism for operating the same and a spring pressing the pivotof said toggle mechanism in a direction to close the jaw, and adapted to yield to permit a completion ofthe toggle action when the movement of the jaw is stopped by the cable.

7. 'A grip for cableways including in combination a movable-jaw, an operating arln therefor extending transversely, means engaging the rear end of said arm to actuate the jaw, a spring also extending transversely and means for transmitting the pressure of said spring to said jaw actuating means.

8. A grip for cableways including in combination a movable jaw, an arm thereof extending transversely to the rear of the grip, toggle mechanism engaging said arm to 0perate the ja'w,'a bell crank lever carrying the pivot of said toggle mechanism at the end of one arm and a spring engaging the opposite arm and pressing sa1d bell crank lever in a dlrectlon to causethe closing of the aw.

9. A grip for cableways including in combination a pivoted le'ver' having a movable cable gripping jaw on "one end, a floating pivot and an operating lever for said pivoted lever, said operating lever being pivotally mounted on said floating pivot.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

FREDERICK (l. CARSTARPHER 

